The invention is generally related to personal finance applications including tax preparation applications utilized to prepare electronic tax returns. Tax preparation applications have become very popular and allow a user, such as a taxpayer or a tax professional, to prepare and electronically file a tax return using a computer. Examples consumer and professional tax preparation applications that may be utilized for this purpose include TurboTax®, ProSeries® and Lacerte®, which are available from Intuit Inc., H&R Block TaxCut, available from H&R Block, Inc., Kansas City, Mo., and TaxACT®, available from 2nd Story Software, Inc. TurboTax®, ProSeries® and Lacerte® are registered trademarks of Intuit Inc., and TaxACT® is a registered trademark of 2″ Story Software, Inc.
Tax preparation applications present tax-related questions or data entry fields to the user as a series of interview pages, screens or fillable forms, in response to which the user enters the appropriate data or answers. Interview screens or questions may relate to personal and family information such as the name and social security number and information related life events of the user such as whether the user is married, has children, etc. Other interview screens and questions may relate the user's finances such as wages, retirement plan contributions, state and federal taxes that were paid or withheld as provided in Form-W2. Upon entry of the data, the tax preparation application prepares an electronic tax return, which is formatted as necessary and electronically filed with a tax authority such as the Internal Revenue Service, a state tax authority, or other tax collecting entity.
While tax preparation applications have greatly simplified preparation of tax returns, the manner in which data related to tax returns is collected and integrated into an electronic tax return can be improved. For example, the user of a tax preparation application will often have changes or events that occur in his or her life that will eventually require changes or updates to a prior year's tax return. When such changes or events occur, the user typically makes these changes while preparing the electronic tax return for the following year and well after these life events have occurred since the tax return for the following year may not be due for a number of months, e.g., not until the following April (in the United States). As a result, the user is required to enter all of the changes and updates at a later time, thereby resulting additional work for the user at that time despite the fact that life events that triggered these changes occurred well before the user began using the tax preparation application to prepare next year's tax return.